


He's perfection, isn't he?

by Lexie_Squirrel



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Earth-3, M/M, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26084992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexie_Squirrel/pseuds/Lexie_Squirrel
Summary: The Jokester, a doppelganger from Earth-3, embodies everything that the Joker will never reach - goodness, justice and righteousness. Of course, Batman now has no time for his enemy when he has such perfection. What's left for the Joker to do?
Relationships: Batman/Joker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	He's perfection, isn't he?

**Author's Note:**

> It's my old fic written in November 2014. To be honest, I've never fully read the Jokester's story, so I know him only for a few pages and panels. But back then it's inspire me for this short fic.

He's perfection.

And I should see it...

A graceful figure, handsome and regular facial features. Soft violet eyes, purple strands of hair. Green, well-fitting clothing. He stands beside him, leaning on his lacquered black hammer. Looks so joyful and open. There is a tightly glued smile on his lips, but I'm sure he would now smile on his own will. And how not to smile when Batman looks at you with such an approval, and his hand in a black glove rests on your shoulder?

Perfection.

A smiling clown who crushes enemies - the right kind of enemies - left and right. He seems peaceful and happy, but I could feel unbearable pain deep under his skin. But this pain helps him stay on the right track, helps him breathe and live. For some reason, misfortunes didn't break him, didn't throw him into the abyss of anger, hatred and madness. He wasn't sane, but the doors of the Arkham Asylum wouldn't have welcomely open in front of him.

He had just skillfully fought back to back along my bat. And now... now Batman smiles at him.

Should I throw a sharp knife at his straight back?

Should I lash out at him from behind and snap his neck?

Should I throw a grenade at them with the pin already pulled? Pour gasoline and set them on fire? Blow up the entire building, then look for a black torn cloak in the rubble, crumbling and white dust? Destroy the entire Earth along with them and myself, just not to see this smile on the face of the always unsmiling Batman and this man who steals my already inreachable happiness?

I stand in the shadows. The collar of my purple cloak is raised high. It's very cold on the roof, I am shaking with chills. But in fact, late April blooms on the streets.

They don't see me. They talk about their own things.

Sure. They have no time for me.

There are now two of them. The bat and the crazy clown. Yin and yang blended into a single, inseparable whole.

He's perfection, isn't he?

And I... what am I?

Evil to the core. An unbearable terrible creature that must be destroyed. It's naive to even think that Batman would look at me just once the way he is now looking at him...

(Hate him)

Even if from now on I would suddenly become kind and good - which is simply impossible - it still will not erase everything that I have done before. It cannot be redeemed, even if I wanted to.

(And I don't want to)

Maybe Batman didn't fully realize how disgusting I was. After all, he didn't kill me, although he had such a chance more than once. But now, when there is such pure light next to him, he will understand how impenetrable and black darkness is in me. And then he will kill me for sure.

(Or rather, he will slam with disgust like a nasty insect)

And then he will look at his new - beautiful and right - clown and say: "I should have done this a long time ago". And then he will smile. And they will join hands, black glove with canary yellow. They will have long sweet nights ahead of them under the Gotham's stars as they fight back to back, exchanging jokes and kisses, and I... I will only have hot and sticky blood pouring right down my throat. Because I'm not dying. I never die.

So, it's only one option remains. Deprive them of a happy ending with one blow.

Batman says something in his ear, leaning too close, almost intimately, touching his ear with his lips. Or am I hallucinating? In my eyes everything is floating because of intolerable feeling called jealousy. Jealousy was eating me worse than the acid that turned me into a monster. My only and unreliable excuse. Not even to myself - but to him.

_It's not my fault, you know. I'd love to be good, but I can't. The acid drove me crazy and stuff, ha-ha. So I kill people and laugh at their corpses. It's all acid's fault. I'm would be nobody without it. It made me out of nothingness, such a wrong and crazy freak. That's why I'm trying to kill you. That's why I'm in love with you._

The flap of black wings. He disappears into the night.

The green figure remains alone on the roof.

And I go out into the yellow circle of light.

Probably, instead of a face, I now have a grimace of hatred. Because when he turns around, he looks startled. Of course, he heard about me from Batman. He probably was told that instead of him in this universe there is only a sick bastard who prefers purple to green. Oh, my dear friend, if only you belonged to this world, there would be at least something good in it. But our world is wrong and broken, instead of light there is darkness in it. Instead of good - evil.

Instead of the Jokester - the Joker.

"Um, hello there!"

He smiles. Always smiling.

There is no smile on my face. I can hardly contain the anger boiling in me.

"Bats told me about you".

How soon, however, did he start calling him "Bats"! How long will it take before its turns into "Batsy"?

"You and I are somewhat alike, don’t we?"

We are only a few steps apart. It's like I'm staring into a distorted mirror. It pains me unbearably because I will never become like him. He's probably scared to look at such a perverted version of himself.

"And in some ways different..." - he added with noticeable regret.

"Are you kidding? - I ask, squinting angrily. - There's nothing similar in us! Appearance - maybe. But this is not enough".

Not enough for him to take my place beside him. He will be bored with you. He will soon play enough with you and get bored. And then he'll need me! His enemy, his jester, his... no, the third option is not given to me. What if this third option is what I need the most?!

"Amazing, huh? - continued the Jokester, not noticing the danger threatening him. - How many coincidences in the worlds... funny".

"It's not damn funny! - I shouted. - Why did you came here for!"

You should have stayed in that world of yours! In a world where you don't have Batman, where no one has him, because he... he d... Maybe it would be easier for me if there was no Batman in my world too? Nobody would stop me from doing evil. But then it wouldn't be that interesting. And it all wouldn't make sense.

But even now life has no meaning, right? Because Batman is being taken away from me. He's been taken away right now!

"I had no choice, Joker, - Jokester shrugged. - Either jump into the portal after Bats, or stay there until I would be torn into pieces. I chose to jump. I'm not very fond of all these parallel worlds, to be honest. It's way too difficult for me".

The corners of his mouth parted even wider, if possible. He is laughing? At me?

"But I think if I stay here for a while, I can be useful. Anyway, Bats thinks I would make a great assistant".

That's enough. A blade whizzing out of my jester-headed cane.

"En garde, Jokester! - I spit these words out like a bad tooth.

I don't need him to defend himself. I need to kill him. Leave his bloody body in stupid green clothes on the roof, and then watch Batman grieve over him. And then kill him too.

"Why should I fight you? - the Jokester laughed. - You and I are practically the same person!"

"No, we're not!"

With a swing of the blade, the Jokester involuntarily has to retreat while raising his hammer.

If we were the same person, then I would be with him now! Me, not you!

"I see no reason to compete! - he easily dodged my attack. - I think our abilities are at about the same level".

I go straight for him, trying to push him to the edge of the roof. If he falls from there, that will be fine too. This will also count as a victory.

"Oh, you're nuts!" - he laughs.

And the laughter breaks off immediately, because I manage to hit him. The wound on the shoulder begins to bleed. He is surprised for a second, and then in one leap he moves away from the edge of the roof. Now the Jokester understands that this is not a game, but a real fight.

"Hey buddy, I'm not claiming your place! You see, I don't like to harm people".

Oh, you purple-headed son of a bitch!..

"I have nothing against you. I don't think we have any reason to fight. On the contrary, we could be friends..."

I abruptly ducked, dodging his hammer as it sweeps over my head. I jump up and throw myself at him again with stinging, sharp blade strikes.

"Calm down, you! You are so angry that you can't even see what you are doing! And anger in a fight is not good help!"

I don't care! The main thing is that the blade should pierced his body, pierced it through and through, should came out of it like a bloodied deadly needle!

He steps back again. It seems that I am still stronger than him. Or is my blind rage so spurred on? Unbearable searing jealousy...

I can rush at him and push him off the roof. There is a danger of falling down alongside with him, but so be it. I don't care anymore. Because now nothing will be the same. I was poisoned by the light of the Jokester, as once my beloved poisonous bat poisoned me. And from this situation, as I know, there is only one way out. Death. For one or for two of us.

"Joker! - shouts my double. - I'm not going to take him away from you!"

The blade stumbles in the air, but still manages to cut off an idiotic bright yellow button with a smiling face from its green uniform.

"Stupid, I don't need him at all, - laughs the Jokester. - I understand that he is yours!"

"You… don’t understand anything", - I squeeze out, and my throat suddenly dries up.

"No, I understand. Do you think I'm not able to recognize love when I see it?"

I recall my own blind onslaught and violent attack. Of course, it wasn't hard to guess. But... he didn't lie? The Jokester didn't need Batman and didn't stole his black cold heart?

"Jokester ... - I said, a little confused, lowering the blade. - So... you don't love him?"

"I know him like... three hours, in total. So it's unlikely", - he laughs again.

Actually, Batman took over my heart in a much shorter time, but I don't think it's worth mentioning. Because I still could not believe in my happiness. Have our figures on the chessboard retained their positions? Will Batman continue to hate me and will I continue to furtively love him?

"I’m not going to interfere with your games with him, - the Jokester says, wincing and checking his bleeding shoulder. - It's more trouble than it's worth, I already understood that. Trust me, as soon as I heard him talking about you, I immediately understood everything".

The blade falls out of my hands with a clang.

And the Jokester, seeing my astonishment, smiles for real this time - with his eyes.

"I already said, I can recognize love when I see it".


End file.
